


What It Takes

by LokoteiBex



Series: Rapunzel Appreciation Week 2020 [7]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Gen, Rapunzel Appreciation Week 2020 (Disney)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:13:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25657204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokoteiBex/pseuds/LokoteiBex
Summary: What did being a free spirit entail, exactly?
Series: Rapunzel Appreciation Week 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1850176
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	What It Takes

**Author's Note:**

> Rapunzel Appreciation Week Day 7 - Free Spirit

Ever since resuming her place as the Crown Princess of Corona, Rapunzel had often been told she was a free spirit, and she knew it wasn’t always meant as a compliment. She thought she could get the gist of what they meant through context, but just to be sure she understood, she went to the royal library and got a dictionary.

The first time she read the definition, she thought about bare feet and unstyled spikey hair and felt ashamed. But the more she thought about it, the more she liked the description. It was absolutely true that she didn’t follow the norm, and didn’t let society dictate how she held herself or behaved.

From then on, she embraced the idea of being a free spirit, and even as she grew and matured and changed and sobered, she insisted on keeping it up. Society dictated that criminals be punished. Rapunzel decided they should be reformed and given second chances. Society dictated that royalty send delegates to take care of the matters of the common folk. Rapunzel made sure she had a hand in every major undertaking Corona went through. She reviewed the books on a monthly basis to account for money coming in and going out, and saw to it that no officials’ pockets were lined with taxpayer money. She decided to marry the formerly most wanted criminal in the kingdom (that was a given). And, of course, she wore shoes as infrequently as possible.

_ “You need to make a good impression,” Nigel had informed her. _

_ “If they’re that concerned with footwear, maybe I don’t want to associate with them,” she’d responded. _

She never stopped encouraging people to follow their dreams, no matter how outlandish they might be. When she was younger, the citizens of Corona said she was shaking things up. As she got older, they were proud to have a queen who thought outside the box. Bear hugs were always welcome, but never forced. Corona became the first kingdom in remembered history where visiting dignitaries often greeted the queen with a hug. She declared her birthday a national holiday, not out of ego, but for the people. They called it the Festival of the Lost Princess, and the lanterns were always a part of it. People didn’t have to work (though merchants usually chose to stay open, at least for limited hours), and as dusk approached, people huddled together sharing ink and paint and charcoal, decorating the lanterns with their wishes. No longer was she mourned, but celebrated, and the lanterns were now for everyone’s hopes, not just her parents’.

She looked at the kingdoms’ problems from the bottom up. Having known several people whose issues stemmed from the opportunities they were and weren’t given, she started in the gutters and orphanages and established not only free public school for anyone who wanted to learn, but encouraged internships and trade schools for the older children who were beginning to understand what they wanted to do with their lives after school. By offering an education and a way into a career, she was granting the opportunity out of poverty. Between that and her criminal reformation program, crime was being stopped before it even began.

And so, yes. Rapunzel was a free spirit, but that didn’t mean she had no discipline. She channeled that free spirit into making Corona a better place all around, which in turn gave Corona the opportunity for joyful lives, which lead to peace, prosperity, and more free spirits.

And, of course, she still rarely wore shoes.

**Author's Note:**

> And here we are, at the end of Rapunzel Appreciation Week. A big fat kudos to everyone who participated! 
> 
> I can't believe I managed to produce a short fic every day this week! (In case it wasn't obvious, I did zero prep work, and just bulldozed my way through each fic each day.) I haven't written this consistently in ages, so it felt good to get something out on a daily basis.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and has a good RAW 2020!


End file.
